Series: Maiden Lane, #1
Traits & Tropes: class difference; titled hero; widowed heroine; tortured hero; suspense aspect
Publication Date: 08.01.10
Genre/Setting: Historical; Georgian; London, England
Heat Level: 4.5
Rating: 5/5
Narration Rating: 5/5
Lazarus Huntington, the Earl of Caire, has quite the reputation about town for his bedroom proclivities. Now he’s searching for a murderer in St. Giles, and he needs help navigating the slum. The widowed Mrs. Temperance Dews is the perfect guide given that she’s spent a lifetime in St Giles helping her brother run a foundling home.
With the home in financial straits, Temperance has little choice but to accept Caire’s offer: in exchange for her assistance navigating the most dangerous parts of St. Giles, he’ll help her find a patron to help fund the home. Temperance is not as proper or innocent as she first seems, however, and the frigid business arrangement between herself and Caire soon heats into something much messier and impossible for either to control.
Anyone who’s read a few of my reviews definitely knows my affinity for the tortured, brooding hero with a heart of gold, bonus points if he’s never really experienced being loved and is quietly dying for it. Lazarus checked all these boxes and I loved that despite his own inexperience with love and real relationships, he was still emotionally savvy enough to see Temperance’s behavior even in ways she hadn’t and to call her out on it. Then she owned her mistakes and her capacity to hurt Lazarus and the two of them worked to heal that damage. Ugh. I loved all of it. The fact that there was also some mystery/murderer on the loose plot going on here kept the plot moving so the story held my interest. I think at times Temperance danced a little bit close to annoying with her insistence on being so stiff and proper, but Lazarus was both patient enough to take his time coaxing her out of her shell and strong enough to call her out when it was needed. I’m glad I finally decided to start this series and I hope the rest continue to have such well-balanced characters and be just as satisfying for me.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3286587934
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/4112950768
Comments
Post a Comment